


Gravity

by weazelbeater



Series: Love and War [15]
Category: Kill la Kill
Genre: Alien Biology, Anger, Confrontations, Confusion, F/F, Flash Forward, Self-Sacrifice, Technobabble, Technology, Transformation, Trauma, Violence, hardmode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 21:52:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9923702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weazelbeater/pseuds/weazelbeater
Summary: A goodbye is never painful…unless you’re never going to say hello again.





	

 

_This is the end, beautiful friend_

_This is the end, my only friend, the end_

_Of our elaborate plans, the end_

_Of everything that stands, the end_

_No safety or surprise, the end_

_I'll never look into your eyes, again_

\- The Doors

 

 

Satsuki awoke with a start. Disoriented, she struggled to open her eyes as sensations of light and sound assaulted her in chaotic waves. Fingertips flew up to check her throat as scattered memories started to creep back, organize, then spell out a most disturbing tale. No wound or contusion was detected, however, and this absence of injury only served to deepen her unsettling concern. ‘ _Was…was that real, or just a dream…?’_

She slowly rose up from her supine position, blinking curiously as she attempted to identify the unfamiliar surroundings. Squinting against the bright sky, she looked around in confused wonder as the sight of a lush green meadow filled her vision. A glittering ocean of deepest blue was observable in the distance to her right, and a field of tall, golden grain was to the immediate left. It was all somehow too bright, too real…colors were supersaturated with brilliant shades of emerald, glowing gold, and vibrant azure that caused her eyeballs to ache. A cacophony of odd noises distracted any attempts to center her focus…was that a dog barking? But where was it, there’s no animal to be seen around here at all? A pinpoint streak in the sky was quickly identified as being a distant jet airliner…but it sounded way too close, too loud?

Satsuki cautiously sniffed the air. There was the pungent scent of pine, but she saw no forest of trees to explain such an unmistakable odor. And yet…why on Earth did this scenario feel so blasted _familiar_?  She tried to stand up, but the ground wobbled uneasily beneath her. Dizziness washed over as her mind tried to reconcile the feelings of marshmallow malleability under body with sights of rippling grass under hands. Something was very, very _wrong_ here.

“Hello, Satsuki! How are you feeling?” Ryuko appeared from amidst the billowing sea of grain, parting the straw colored stalks as she stepped daintily into the meadow clearing. Satsuki blearily focused upon the familiar sight of her sibling as she tried in vain to clear this uncanny fog of war away by willpower alone. No such luck: vertigo was still stubbornly present, as were some nagging suspicions regarding her own cognitive functionality. _Could_ she be actually…losing her mind? Nothing was making concrete sense anymore. How would she even know? Did crazy people ever _truly_ know that they had gone…mad?

“Wh-what...where _is_ this? Ryuko, is that really you? I feel…so very _strange_ , I can’t quite seem to…”

Ryuko kneeled down and caressed the confused woman’s shoulder, a quiet smile plastered upon her face. Satsuki casually glanced up towards Ryuko’s mouth, looking for the savage fangs that rent her flesh into bloody shreds. Normal, pearly canines flashed back at her as Ryuko regarded her sister with an abnormally chipper smile.

“Everything is going to be okay, Satsuki. Relax, all right? It’s going to take some time to get used to this. Here, let me dial down these surroundings, now that you’re finally awake. I was going for ‘peaceful’, but perhaps it’s more ‘jarring’ in retrospect? Personally, I find this technology to be just a bit garish and rough around the edges, but I have yet to fine-tune the settings to my liking. The colors and sounds are just a little bit too intense to me, or at least to a being with _my_ unique senses. Right, Sats…?”

One remote adjustment later, and the area slowly melted back into the familiar environs of their very own bedroom. Satsuki nervously blinked, then exhaled as the realization finally sunk in. She was in bed, it was all just the technologically summoned imagery from their house’s cutting-edge holographic array. That oddly intense pine scent still lingered, though...and she knew that this technology simply could not replicate actual scents as of yet...ah, of course! That was just the master bathroom’s pine-scented deodorizer. How blatantly obvious! But wait…why did it now seem so overwhelmingly powerful, when it was barely even noticeable before? It was as though Satsuki’s sense of smell had somehow been boosted a hundredfold, and as innocuous as that may have seemed, it only served to send her into a dizzier tailspin.

“Ryuko, I don’t understand. What _happened_? We were talking, then I recall…a brief struggle, I think? We were fighting about…ah, I had caught you lying--” Her eyes narrowed as she regarded the abnormally calm creature now standing before her. Hand reflexively stroking her neck once again, she involuntarily shivered at the memory of razors, filling her neck with silver-red _agony_ , and then…nothing. Nothing at all.

Ryuko chuckled. “What happened, you ask? Well, you might find this hard to believe at first, but I saved your _life_ , onee-san.” She continued to gently smirk as Satsuki stared at her, reality still not feeling quite solid enough to steady her mental footing just yet.

Nose wrinkling in disbelief, the young woman scoffed at this exceedingly strange declaration. “What does that even mean? Did you actually attack me? You _did_ , didn’t you?! Yes, I distinctly remember that happening now…my hair, it was caught by your fist! That was no dream! You bit me…tried to kill me!”

Ryuko clapped her hands together as she chuckled again, tickled at the very idea. She sat upon the edge of the bed and placed one reassuring hand upon Satsuki’s thigh, delicately caressing it as she explained the reality of the situation.

“Well, okay. Your memories are…mostly correct. Yes, I did bite you…but it was not to end your life. Rather, what I have done is _prolong_ your life, since you were blissfully unaware of the seriousness of your own deteriorating physical state. _‘The candle that burns twice as fast’_ indeed, eh Sats? How remarkably accurate that statement ended up being in retrospect! It wasn’t just from worry or an ulcer, you know. You were dying of _cancer_ , Satsuki. Remember? That nagging pain in your stomach? The one you never quite got around to consulting a doctor about? Yes, it turns out that was actually a rapidly growing tumor, onee-san. In fact, it was in the earliest stages of metastasizing into your spine and liver. The exposure of that parasitic kamui driving your human body into cellular overdrive plus that innate, heightened rejection power over your implanted fibers...well now, this certainly provided you with some rather aggressive stamina and resilience at the time, but unfortunately that _also_ meant eventual, uncontrollable malignant cell growth once Junketsu was finally cast aside for good! You see, it turns out that extreme stubbornness doesn’t necessarily bode well for the individual organism at certain times! I’ve come to learn this, and you should as well. You need to  listen to your body, now more than ever! In fact, I’d actually ask that you do that, right now. What _is_ your body telling you right now, hmm? Please…do tell. Go ahead. I’m being quite serious here.”

Satsuki studied the unnervingly placid face before her with burning intensity. Tightly pursed lips finally spat forth a hasty, venom-tipped barb. “It tells me that you’re _lying_ , whoever you are. I feel just fine! That, plus you don’t even _sound_ like my sister anymore!” Ryuko’s warm smile grew even broader at this energetic exclamation.

“Yes, you feel ‘just fine’ now…just as I knew you would! Oh, and I grew tired of that juvenile syntax, if you simply must know? Proper communication is absolutely crucial at this point in time for me, and I won’t have anyone mistaking me for some petty hoodlum or street rat! But no, what I am asking now is that you put aside your understandable confusion and rather obvious animosity for just one brief moment. How do you _truly_ feel right now, Kiryuin Satsuki? Please, just take a minute to think about this and answer me truthfully.”

Satsuki paused. How did she feel? She felt…good, perhaps? Really good, in fact. The absence of pain suddenly made itself glaringly obvious, much like the sweet bliss of total silence after the abrupt quelling of a harsh, drawn-out shriek. The grinding, ever-present agony of her ruined joints, the deep ache of her twisted back, the piercing scrape of claws inside her midsection…it was all _gone_? Not even a stress headache lingered behind to distract her thoughts. A chill of goosebumps quickly rushed down her back and erected her nipples at full attention. Wispy neck and arm hairs stood up as though electrified.

Satsuki’s eyes darted down to her left hand. The jagged, cruel scar that once split her palm in two was completely gone, as was the ever-present dead numbness. Fingers curled over to gingerly rub fingertips together, and blessedly full sensations rewarded her cautious examination efforts. Her eyes shot wide open, unable to comprehend how such a biological miracle could possibly take place.

 _‘How? By all that is holy, how can this be?’_ Satsuki was simultaneously elated and frightened at the same time, warm giddiness mixing with frozen fear inside the whirling maelstrom of her mind. Ryuko gently squeezed Satsuki’s thigh, resisting the delicious urge to allow her hand to drift upwards and show her dear, beautiful Satsy just how much _better_ she could soon be made to feel. Instead, she just patted her leg and nodded sagely.

“Yes, that’s right. The pain…I told you I’d make it all go away, and now I have done so! You deserve this, Kiryuin Satsuki…more than anyone I’ve ever known! So brave, risking your life and even your soul to save your home planet! I have deep admiration for one who is so very dedicated to such a cause. You’re welcome, by the way, for healing all of your terrible ailments. Perhaps you would prefer a full explanation now? Hmm?”

Satsuki just nodded, hands folding protectively over her chest as she tried not to scream at the sheer insanity of it all. Ryuko… _her_ Ryuko…somehow cured her of…of  everything? _‘Wait. Did she say ‘your home planet’…? Does that phrase mean what I think it means? Oh please, no…’ _She was rendered absolutely speechless by all of these overwhelming implications…that is, until Ryuko finally laid out the entire truth for her to absorb.

“Very well. I have taken the liberty of utilizing my active life fibers to connect with your dormant ones and establish the proper connections to your various biological systems. I deployed this fix by gaining subdermal access via your carotid artery and intravenously spreading out my fibers inside your body, in order to properly reignite your own. It was quite a painstaking process, and I assure you that you were _not_ an easy patient to treat at all! Nevertheless, the procedure turned out to be successful, once all was said and done. You and I are now kindred in every way…hybrid fiber beings linked by both spirit _and_ flesh.“

Wide eyed, Ryuko giggled impishly as she tilted her head, somehow conjuring forth a chilling image of Harime Nui’s saccharine smile to the forefront of Satsuki’s mind. She shivered involuntarily as Ryuko gleefully gushed about her daring and triumphant biological thread-weaving. “Oh, I’m so very happy! Now I don’t have to feel so utterly alone on this planet anymore. Now I have you…my _true_ kin. _Our synchronization is now complete!_ ”

Satsuki shook her head, trying in vain to clear her thoughts of rampant fears and cluttered misgivings. The dawning realization of what had just occurred began to sink cold steel talons deep into her heart. “But you’ve _always_ had me, Ryuko! You didn’t need to…to...how _dare_ you defile my body like this! You had no _right_ to invade my person and try to turn me into…into-”

“What…a _monster?_ Go ahead, say it. I know what you’re thinking. What _everyone_ has been thinking, ever since the debacle of my tortured existence first began on this wretched world! You speak of having the right? Well, _might_ makes right. I learned that by watching you, now didn’t I? Up there in the sky, lording so very effectively over Honnōji Academy...so beautiful! I learned then of the important role that wielding and projecting power has in this world. I had the power to _make_ things right…so I did! It really _is_ that simple! Look, sometime very soon? You’ll be thanking me for all of this, I just know it!”

“Wh…who the hell _are_ you?”

“Who am I? _*sigh*_ Well, as I stand here before you, I am the being known as Matoi Ryuko. However I have also become…more than that. My lifelong inability to properly coexist with my life fibers has thankfully come to an end. At long last, we are one in perfectly symbiotic bliss! It took a very long time to reach this perfect equilibrium, and I fought it for so very long…because I didn’t understand! But now I _do_ , Satsuki! It’s the stubbornness: _it’s genetic!_ The indomitable will that we both share by virtue of our Kiryuin blood? It’s the reason we didn’t immediately submit to the implanted life fibers…or to _anyone_ , for that matter! I’ve been subconsciously resisting the life fibers’ mental influence within me since I was a child! Hell, yours were subdued before they even had a chance to properly take root within you at all…who knows if you’d have turned out the same way if your implanting was done earlier? But not I...my implantation was performed at just the right time! Yet something within me was putting up some tremendous resistance anyways, so the fibers had to slowly increase in power just to keep fighting me, to break through. Believe me; they’d _never_ had such a challenging time completely bonding with a biological creature before they met me! Don’t you see, Satsuki?  This is why I’ve always been such an irritable and difficult person; I’ve been unwittingly fighting the mental part of the bonding process for most of my life! Regardless of this subconscious atomic war, my fiber-laced tissues grew exponentially with physical power anyways. Father noted this early on, so he devised a therapy to put my life fibers into ‘hibernation’ during my prepubescent years, for lack of a better word. To slow down their attempt at molecular symbiosis to a glacial crawl…but I was still able to harness enough physical power from them to defeat _anyone_ who stood in my way during my childhood. You see, ‘Doctor Daddy’ didn’t want me becoming too powerful before my time, lest I somehow draw some unwanted attention from ‘Mother of the Year’, right? Oh hell, all those damnable needles and syringes and endless tests! Ah, but now? _Now_ we are fully fused in both body and mind, and I can finally be the  true human/life fiber hybrid I was always meant to be! I’ve been reborn, better than ever! They finally succeeded in working their way past whatever inconvenient mental shielding I had up that was stunting total access to my prefrontal cortex, and as a result I can now _finally_ accept them for what they truly are: both my salvation _and_ yours!”

“So now you’ve made me into a...a life fiber hybrid? You invaded my body, my very soul…against my _will_? Or was it just to obey _theirs,_ instead?”

Ryuko sighed. This was taking too long to sink in. She deftly struck out, slashing the confused Kiryuin across one forearm with a sharp, fiber-enhanced fingernail. Satsuki gasped as blood trickled down her arm, so quick was the blow that she had no time to even react. Before her shocked eyes, a sparkly bluish haze instantly appeared around the cut. Glittering blue fibers quickly knitted her flesh back into smooth, unblemished skin in a matter of mere moments.

“There. See? Do you finally get it now? You’re just like me. Perfectly healthy, virtually immortal, and ready to take on the entire world! Which, as a matter of fact, happens to be exactly why I did this! That is the ultimate destiny that awaits us both! I am so excited, I can hardly wait to see your face! You and I, Satsuki? Our shared legacy will someday be that we realized your ultimate dream: we are going to use our life fibers to transform this planet’s population into an orderly paradise… _together!_ ”

Satsuki’s jaw dropped, flabbergasted at what she just heard. Ryuko was cheerfully describing plans for planetary domination and subjugation of the entire human race...these were the legendary hallmarks of Kiryuin Ragyo’s cruelly ambitious machinations. It was as if she was dealing with a shade cut from her own evil mother’s domineering cloth! Ah, maybe...she _was?_ Perhaps this was just a life fiber _clone_ of her dear sister, which was somehow created and then escaped from…? No, the colors were completely normal, and there wasn’t even anyone left who could possibly concoct and carry out such a devious scheme. As depressing as it was to consider, this _was_ her actual flesh and blood sibling now before her, chirpily describing the intent to commit a massive planetary hijacking. Ryuko continued to happily blurt out her thoughts, excited words spilling forth unheeded as rapidly gesticulating hands enhanced her descriptions of this visionary utopia.

“Listen, I have it all planned out. We simply need to breed enough life fibers to take over the planet’s population. Now I know it sounds like an impossible task, but in actuality it won’t take nearly as much as you might think! Most people are just weak-willed sheep…or pigs, if you prefer? It won’t take much to assume direct control over them. Fortunately, my particular life fibers don’t propagate by detonating an entire planet! What a relief, eh? That is _such_ an inefficient means of spreading one’s genetic seed across the universe! Too much is left to random chance, and it is terribly resource intensive...something like that should be purposefully and intelligently guided every step of the way, don’t you think? Asexual fiber spawning via wholesale planetary destruction is a thing of the past now!”

Ryuko suddenly snapped her fingers as a most delectable piece of information ushered itself into her train of thought. How could she possibly forget to introduce _the_ most delicious detail of the ‘new fiber world order’ to her most beautiful and intensely attractive Satsykins? Her pulsing vagina was spontaneously tingling with immense anticipation at the very thought of it! Ryuko bit her lower lip as she forced herself to stop fidgeting and behave...for the moment, anyways.

“Mmmm! Oh my goodness, how very silly of me! I simply cannot forget to mention the most delightful aspect of our new relationship! I’ll need your help for this plan to work, my dear lovely Satsuki! You see, we’ll have to mate in order to create a legion of my particular brand of life fiber hybrid spawn! That’s why yours have manifested as a different color, you see. Now I won’t go quite so far as to say that they are ‘male’ and ‘female’ life fibers, per se, but…well, just between you and me? I somehow think that we both know who the ‘girly’ one _really_ is here…right, my ‘Squishy Satsy’? Heh-heh-heh! Aw…what, no smile? Come on, not even a chuckle? Really...? Oh, well. I thought it was funny! _*sigh*_ Anyways…they are but two halves of the same glorious creatures! It turns out that they  also managed to develop some distinctly human DNA characteristics as a result of our shared genetic splicing! Isn’t that simply amazing? The overwhelming challenge of being exposed to my unique structure forced my fibers to spontaneously undergo their very own evolutionary change! That’s right: I somehow managed to override the life fibers _themselves!_ I’ll bet Father wouldn’t have seen _that_ twist coming! In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that these ‘new breed splice’ life fibers of mine have been orchestrating this entire relationship of ours from the very beginning; subtly swaying my physical attraction to you, setting us up in advance to become a future life fiber breeding pair? It certainly would explain my overwhelming urge to bang the living _hell_ out of you ever since we met, sibling relations be damned! Well at any rate, that shouldn’t be an issue…since we’ve already _been_ mating for quite some time now. Isn’t that right, you amazingly beautiful sex goddess?”

Satsuki didn’t react. She couldn’t. She was immobile, frozen to the spot by all of this provocative new information. She felt the terrible urge to scream, to panic, to lash out in devastating anger...it was all promptly ignored in an effort to patiently extract more useful intelligence from her obviously unhinged hybrid sister. Ryuko crouched down and locked eyes with her stunned sibling as she soberly spelled out the impetus behind her grand ideas.

“Listen, I’ve decided that you were right, all along. People _need_ to be controlled. In our current state, humanity will _never_ be able to mount a proper planetary defense, in case those damned ‘original’ life fibers do return. We need to be banded together as one cohesive unit! We could wait until the stars fall from the sky and humans will _still_ have yet to reach a proper consensus in the face of their imminent extinction! I once said I wanted to contribute to that future, and this is how I’ll accomplish it! I’ve already sacrificed my very own body to reach this goal by helping your aerospace company with the creation of ingenious new space-age materials, haven’t I? In your own way, you have been contributing to this vision too...by providing exemplary leadership with amazing amounts of blood, sweat and tears! Think about it, Satsuki: _absolute control over every living soul_. We now finally have the means to protect this beautiful planet of ours from any future dangers! Only this time, fear will _not_ be freedom…no one will have any cause whatsoever to be afraid! We’ll _all_ be on the same team…with you and I poised as the rightful custodians of Earth’s glorious future!”

The former Honnōji warlord quietly considered these chilling words as she was swallowed whole by the sins of her past. Memories of deviously manipulating the masses, of dictating with her merciless steel fist, all cunningly arranged by her own unstoppable, adamantine will. Yet what had that ever earned her, if not a heart perpetually swollen with shame and burning regret? It certainly sounded like a goal she may have once had, of zealously controlling the populace until they followed her every maniacal whim without question. How could Ryuko possibly forget what that was like to experience firsthand, and the untold misery it caused? How can she be awoken from this fevered dream? How to go about saving her from this atrocious--

“Oh, I do _love_ your new eyes, by the way. They are far prettier than they ever were!”

Satsuki’s head snapped up from her tactical introspection. “What? What _about_ my damned eyes? So help me, Matoi! I swear…I should just-”

Satsuki suddenly sprang up and bolted past her sister, towards the master bathroom and the expansive mirror located within. Skidding to a halt, she hastily slammed on the wall switch to illuminate her glaring face. Twitching cobalt eyes stared back at her; octagonal star-shaped pupils, eight ragged points of which were emanating from the center of each eye, contracting and quivering as Satsuki took in the irrefutable ocular evidence of her recently forced hybridization.

“I like your eyes better, really. My little eye spokes are outright boring, compared to yours! I mean, come on: ‘starry eyes’, right? Oh, my dear Satsuki-sama, they are simply _gorgeous_ , just like the rest of you! I won’t lie, I am positively jealous! I’ll tell you one thing...I am reaching for the stars, in more ways than one!” Ryuko cheerily lurked around the corner of the door, her own gear-shaped pupils twinkling merrily in open admiration of these new fiber-triggered enhancements.

Hot tears suddenly cascaded out from Satsuki’s transformed orbs, and her fists clenched with incandescent rage as the full reality of the situation finally crashed head-on into her raging brain. Veins strained and bulged in her arms, her temples, and her neck as tendons of titanium strength groaned and creaked within her new, fearsomely lethal frame.

Historically speaking, there were very few recorded instances of Lady Kiryuin Satsuki completely losing her composure. She had always prided herself upon exerting absolute control of her faculties in all situations, and at all times. Even when infuriated, she purposefully left a core of rational cool in charge of her actions…it was all part of surviving successfully under Kiryuin Ragyo’s maddeningly abusive aura.

Here and now though, all traces of self-control were swept away in a blistering flood of supercharged adrenaline as Satsuki proceeded to blow her ever-loving top in a catastrophically volcanic fashion. A supersonic fist blasted through the bathroom’s thick marble countertop, exploding in a cloud of annihilated rock as she managed to unleash a terrifyingly piercing screech, laced with stinging hurt and unfathomable fury.

Satsuki then looked up to catch a quick glimpse of her own violently enraged self, reflected in the cold mirror before her. She could no longer recognize what it was that she now saw in that reflection, and it wasn’t simply because the mirror had just been shattered by the force of her own destroying hand; it was because someone _else’s_ destroying hand had once again reached inside and shattered _her_ by force.

“Grrr _RR **RAAAHH** hh!_ You…damned… _weak-minded_ … _FOOL!_ Those godforsaken fibers have completely overridden your very being, ruining your precious soul in the process! To even _think_ of perpetrating such a heinous crime upon the entire human species in such a manner…! A-and to just reach inside _me_ and completely corrupt my body with your tainted alien infection... _without my consent?_ You soulless...goddamned filthy _rapist_ … ** _you’re no better than Ragyo!_** ”

It was Ryuko’s turn to stand there in slack-jawed shock. The wholesale and immediate rejection of her feverishly perfected master plan…this was not to be expected at all! But it made such perfect sense?! Wasn’t this what her dear Satsuki always wanted? A foolproof way to control the populace? Oh, and to compare her own selfless actions to that of the soulless demon-creature known as _Kiryuin Ragyo?_ That filthy nightmare monster, that tortuous harpy from hell? How DARE she make such an accusation!

“Why, you thankless **_ingrate!_** How can you say such terrible things to me, Satsuki?! I’ve devised a foolproof plan to _save_ this entire planet from total catastrophe! Look, _I’m_ the real hero here, and I-“

_“ **I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO RAPE THE ENTIRE PLANET, MATOI!** ” _

The force of the blow that followed this shrieking exclamation shook the house’s foundation and even managed to crack the bedroom’s reinforced windows from the subsequent shockwave. Ryuko found herself to be instantly flying through one, two, three entire walls as wood, wire, plastic, rebar and concrete painfully lashed her suddenly-ballistic body.

She finally came to an abrupt stop against the leather couch in the upstairs den, her obliterated jaw already mending from the brutal assault. Gingerly sliding a jagged splinter of steel out from under one split kneecap, Ryuko absentmindedly spat out a glob of maroon gore, tooth enamel and glass bits onto the carpet as she focused upon the rapidly approaching, wall-shaking stomps of one severely pissed off Kiryuin Satsuki. Her quickly fiber-mending jaw was immediately put to the test as she started to hastily shout out a mushy explanation in the face of this impending threat to her impassioned plans.

“Ow! _Thathki?!_ Wha’ th’ fuggin’ hell’s th’ pwoblem hewe...y’r atchally _mad_ a’ me? Buh why th’ hell are—will ya jus’ listen t’ me f’r a damned minute here? I’m trying to _help_ us all!” Dumbfounded, Ryuko managed to hobble up just as Satsuki blew the den’s oak door right off its hinges with one ferocious front ball kick. Sheetrock dust had settled to form a ghostly pall upon the enraged woman’s face, twin vertical lines cut into this fearsome war mask by silent tears of boiling frustration. Glowing cobalt coals burned from deep within Satsuki’s eye sockets, casting a fearful blue haze around the wild hair that now framed her frenzy-warped face.

Insulted as she was by her elder sibling’s unanticipated reaction, Ryuko also felt a burgeoning twinge of fear lance her chest as she took in the shocking sight of the infuriated and sorely violated woman, now stalking towards her with grim intent. She found herself mentally freezing as her sister’s wholly unexpected rebellion was discovered to be much more costly than she had originally guessed.

It would appear that Ryuko had grossly miscalculated exactly what would result from reigniting the full life fiber capacity of her fanatically trained warrior sister. Ryuko was the physically stronger of the two, that she absolutely knew for a fact...but she was at a sudden loss for words as she received a lightning-quick flurry of crushing jackhammer strikes, delivered with frightening accuracy to her temple, her larynx, her kidneys. The lady known as Kiryuin Satsuki had been forcibly transformed into an inhuman wrecking machine, fueled by an unholy mix of betrayal, traumatic hurt and frothing rage…and Ryuko had absolutely _no_ idea how to defuse her rampage without killing her. She was a critical element to her master plan…Satsuki simply could _not_ be replaced!

Off-balance and left with no time whatsoever to process a proper defense from this murderous onslaught, Ryuko found herself desperately searching for a quick way out of this mess. A strategic retreat was deemed to be of greatest importance if she was going to find some way of salvaging her golden future dream from the misguided clutches of this merciless Kiryuin juggernaut. She stomped one foot straight down with incredible force, a tremendous explosion of wood and carpet shrapnel blowing up all over the immediate vicinity as she hastily plummeted down into the jagged hole now created before her…down into the dark garage, where her trusty motorcycle and certain escape faithfully awaited her.

Satsuki snarled poisonously as needle-sharp teeth ground together with a horrifying screech. “RRRrrrrr-nnn- ** _NO_**! _No escape for you, Matoi!_ ” Her iron claw swooped down into the gaping hole and clamped down upon Ryuko’s retreating skull as she fell, gripping it with terrifying force.

“ ** _GyaAAAarrgh!_** Let **GO** of me, you crazy _bitch!_ ” Satsuki’s electric blue, fiber-barbed talons dug painfully into the flesh of Ryuko’s scalp, cleaving open crimson furrows as they sought purchase deep within her fracturing skull. Kicking and screaming, Ryuko flailed her legs about violently as waterfalls of hot blood saturated her face and stung her eyes, pouring down the back of her neck and trickling into her cleavage. The gore was making Ryuko’s head too slippery to hold, and Satsuki found her grip losing precious traction. The Kiryuin she-demon quickly reached out with her other clawed hand as her torso dropped to the floor with a wet thud, powerful legs splaying out to keep her warrior body braced exactly where it was.

As one hand lost its grip, the other managed to find Ryuko’s red streak, which Satsuki seized upon with brutal savageness. The shrieks multiplied in force, and Satsuki watched grimly as her sister’s body started to involuntarily convulse with tortured, pained spasms. Satsuki had always wondered about the exact composition of that red streak, and now it was becoming painfully apparent that it was a direct life fiber shortcut to Ryuko’s central nervous system.

Snarling and drooling, the young girl drove her fist straight up in desperation, piercing the ceiling and embedding her own elongated razor talons right into the meat of Satsuki’s hip. She bore down hard upon bone and was rewarded with a sickening crunch as the hip joint was loudly and traumatically dislocated. A horrendous scream was quickly followed by the blessed release of her maimed red streak as Satsuki involuntarily drew up into a fetal ball, desperately grasping at her torrentially gushing hip as hoarse, braying curses turned the air blue.

Ryuko impacted the concrete below with a wet slap as blood sprayed out to form the vague shape of red liquid wings around her torso. Her head was on atomic _fire_ ; the sizzling electric current from her mauled streak was overriding all attempts at rational thought. She reflexively curled up into a ball as well, mentally willing her fibers to hurry the hell up and repair the most grievous of these injuries. She could now hear that Satsuki was somehow _already_ banging methodically down the stairwell, leaving the wounded girl with a vague impression of what a Mack truck full of anvils rolling off a cliff might possibly sound like.

-boom-

*boom*

*BOOM*

**_*BOOM*_ **

The interior garage door exploded into fractured kindling, with a limping Kiryuin Satsuki inexorably drifting through the cloud of pulverized dust and splinters as she lowered one trembling foot. The fiber she-devil pressed one gore-soaked palm against her rapidly healing hip as she savagely willed her weakened leg to keep up the required cadence. Wickedly pointed eyebrows now framed wide-open eyes of glowing nuclear blue fire, such was the sheer intensity of her naked rage. Ropes of newly-awakened life fiber threads roiled and darted under the surface of her neck and chest, writhing and bulging under pale skin like so many serpents trapped within a cloth sack.

Ryuko wearily raised her pounding head from the floor as Satsuki slowly shuffled towards her location. One shaking palm was cast out towards the rage-fueled destroyer in a desperate bid for mercy. “Sats, w-wait! Stop, please just _stop_ , I beg of you! Listen, I… _*cough*_ …I just need some time t-to explain! I don’t think you quite understand…I need you to focus on the big picture here!“

Satsuki’s eyes became dark slits as she bitterly regarded her foe. Metallic growling was transformed into a hissed declaration of sheer contempt and hateful disgust. Her voice was somewhat reminiscent of a rusty axe being dragged over a slate walkway as she spoke.

“How _disgraceful._ ”

After pausing for a brief moment, Kiryuin Satsuki slowly tucked her arms behind her as she assumed a full-attention military pose, it being so engrained into muscle memory over the years. The sparkling blue glow from her pelvis faded as her fibers dutifully completed repairs on the wound. Ryuko distantly noted that _her_ fibers were still working upon knitting her mauled scalp back together, although they had finally stemmed the worst of the bleeding.

 _‘How did she manage to heal so damned quickly? She’s only been a hybrid for a few hours! Are mine in some kind of shock from her trying to tear out my damned streak, or is she somehow naturally faster than me…?’ _She swallowed thickly, then jumped as Satsuki clacked her heel sharply upon the concrete.

“Would _you_ like to undergo the blood purge? I don’t need to wish for Bakuzan at this point, you should know. Behold.” Satsuki drew from behind her the Sword Scissor blade, once luckily rescued from the deep sea…the very one that Ryuko had so casually tossed into the upstairs den closet after Satsuki attempted to gift it back to her, several months ago.

“You said that you could never envision a time when you might need to rely upon this cursed blade ever again, as I distinctly recall. I do understand your feelings. After all, this _is_ the very blade that once slew our own father. Yet, who knows? Perhaps it has yet to drink its fill of a Kiryuin’s cursed blood, after all…” Satsuki slowly pointed it towards Ryuko’s throat, which reflexively tightened in fearful response. Her voice was cold gravel as she addressed the false-skin creature, now pathetically sprawled before her on the chilly ground.

“Answer me truthfully, beast! Else I shall work to strip those damnable fibers from your very _corpse._ Is there _any_ way to have my sister delivered back to me, intact _and_ unharmed? Will you willingly cede full control of her faculties back to her, once again? Or are you _truly_ a lost c-cause?” Her voice cracking at the last second, Ryuko furtively glanced up from eyeballing the gleaming blade to catch the twinkle of a tear as it dribbled down Satsuki’s filthy, battle-hardened face.

Warily eying the razor-keen edge of the Scissor Blade once again, Ryuko raised her trembling palms out for her seething sibling to see. She worked laboriously to hobble up onto her knees, blood seeping into the fabric of her pants as she gasped and panted before the savage warrior queen. “Please…s-stop that. Stop treating me as though I weren’t your own sister! I _am_ Matoi Ryuko! This is who I _am!_ Satsuki, my entire _life_ has been about transformation! Why should one more bother you?”

Satsuki slowly curled up her lip to reveal serrated, fiber-augmented fangs, blued steel in hue and ferociously sharp in appearance. “Heed my words carefully, creature. I once said _’To defeat Ragyo, I must treat all human beings as pawns.’_ That was  my grave mistake, to choose to employ _her_ depraved methods…it made me just as evil as her, in my own sordid way. Now I am hearing much the same, only  you seek to treat all human beings as _actual_ flesh slaves! That is utterly subhuman, to even _consider_ the perpetration of such an evil, abhorrent crime against nature! So you dare to ask why _this_ transformation should bother me? Because, Matoi…it means that you aren’t _you_ anymore! You’ve transformed into… ** _her_** _._ ” The last word she uttered trailed off into a burbling, raspy growl as she tightened her grip upon the shiny blade.

Ryuko began to splutter in defiant rage at this cold insinuation. “Who…h- _her_? Do you mean Ragyo? Or are you _also_ daring to compare me to that insane fucking fiber abortion known as Harime Nui? _Answer_ me, you arrogant-” She started to stand up and protest until Satsuki flicked the blade past her neck in an almost imperceptible blur, opening up a stinging wound that wouldn’t heal for a long while thanks to the Scissor Blade’s unique fiber-dulling properties.

“Does it even matter anymore? They were _both_ degenerate rapists. Matoi Ryuko, I adore you more than I have ever loved anyone or anything on this planet… _ever_. But I won’t hesitate to exterminate you if you’re… _*sniff*_ …if you’re truly gone! I will not tolerate this…this foul _thing_ , masquerading as my darling imouto-san in her beautiful skin! _I will not!_ Do you _hear_ me, you accursed fiber creature?! I will personally expunge you from this plane of existence if she has been forever _stolen_ from me!” She slammed the sword down into the concrete, a blinding bloom of sparks flashing towards Ryuko’s face as her gleaming crimson eyes widened in fear.

Hissing through bared fangs, Ryuko reluctantly knelt back down in the congealing pool of her own blood. The unexpectedly cold chill of the liquid surprised and distracted her, so she briefly glanced down at the bloody pool out of curiosity…and a crushing sense of Déjà vu hammered her right between the eyes. Her reflection, as seen in the blood’s shimmering surface, was indeed of the girl known as Ryuko Matoi…but as a fanged, feral beast.

It was that _vision_ , the same exact harrowing vision that she had once glimpsed in a pool of blood, spilled during her intensely violent match with Sanageyama Uzu, many moons ago. Suddenly…she somehow _knew_. There, in one brilliant flash…she knew just how and where everything went so very wrong. The facts flooded into place, and the grand solution to this puzzle was spelled out for her in chilling detail.

When she was cruelly shot in the back, it sent her fibers into manic overdrive to save her life…but they didn’t stop there, once her life was out of mortal danger, now did they? No, they did not. This surge awakened their genetic imperative, forced it out beyond the learned desire to peacefully inhabit their host’s body in domesticated bliss. No, they had been jump-started, galvanized into remembering their clade’s _original_ purpose.

**_Subjugate._ **

**_Enslave._ **

**_Overwhelm._ **

**_Dominate._ **

And what better place to finish that job than from within their very own host? The host who somehow, in some unexpected way was gifted on a genetic level to resist their unbelievable power! To negate their insidious puppet-string pull and take direct control of their unimaginable abilities, to tap into it without being mentally usurped for _their_ hidden purposes?

**_Unacceptable._ **

_‘Yeah…right, it is unacceptable! Gimme control over my friggin’ life back, goddamn it!’ _

**_Impossible._ **

_‘No! Fuck ‘impossible’…and fuck you, too! My name is Matoi Ryuko…I live for pulling off the impossible!’_

Ryuko strained and heaved as she started grasping at her own quaking torso with the force of a feral bear. She knelt before her beloved Satsuki, shivering and choking as warm blood and tears poured down her slick cheeks in fresh rivulets.

“ _Ack-!_ Ah, I’m… _*krrchh*_ Yuh…suh…Sats! Satsy…I…I’m so sorry! It’s m-me, like fer real this time! I’m being…ggrrrrr _controllllled_ , I c’n feel ‘em _*agh*_ fuckin’ with meee…draggin’ me back under their powerrr… _*hefff*…_ p-please, I’m beggin’ ya! You gotta f-find a way to sssstop this, I’m jus’ too damned dangerousss!”

A grotesque ripple of life fibers worked their way up and down her sinewy arms, causing Satsuki to recoil in horror as thorny fiber brambles broke through the surface of Ryuko’s skin and instantly healed over and over in agonizing waves. Sputtering as she choked and violently shook, Ryuko managed to flash her pleading, suddenly blue eyes up for one brief, desperate moment to connect with Satsuki’s, begging as blood and spinal fluid slowly trickled out from one flaring nostril.

_“Onee-san…you have to kill me.”_

Satsuki’s fiery blue eyes widened, horrified at such a terrible plea. “ _NO!_ I will not! Fight it, Ryuko! I know you can do it! You are blessed with the willpower of a thousand suns! You can _beat_ this!” She reached out to comfort her beloved sibling as the Sword Scissor blade was lowered, to find a way to save her darling love from this insidious soul hijacking...but Matoi Ryuko had other plans.

Ryuko suddenly stood up in a blinding flash, lashing out with a sound-barrier-breaking sidekick that sent Satsuki sprawling into the shattered garage wall. The foundations shook and groaned from the force of the impact as the motorcycle’s headlight suddenly exploded into powdered glass dust. Satsuki growled, preparing to get up and kick back when a sharp piece of rebar came crashing down into her shin, pinning her to the concrete floor with armor-piercing effectiveness. Ryuko then rapidly bent the end of the bar over, forcefully jamming the other end into the ground as well, effectively stapling Satsuki’s mutilated leg to the cold garage floor.

The fallen Kiryuin warrior braced herself for the killing blow, but none fell. Openly weeping, Ryuko shuffled backwards as she trembled and quaked. Hands pressed to agonized temples, her face bore a terrible expression of anguish and sadness as she regarded the horrendous sight of what she had just inflicted upon her own beloved kin. Ryuko vomited just then, a vile stream of black blood and bile that splattered upon the floor in repeated torrents.

Suddenly finding herself perfectly still within a strange halo of eerie calmness, the traumatized girl sniffled wetly as her voice quavered out to her writhing, near-feral sister, now struggling to get a grip upon the bloody, slippery rebar that viciously pinned her to the concrete.

“Satsuki-sama…? Oh no... _no!_ What have I _done?_ Oh, damn me to hell…I’m so sorry for this, all of it. This is _all_ my fault! Sats...hey, nee-san...? Please, _please_ look up at me!” Anger and agony flashing from her wildly piercing glare, Satsuki’s twisted mask of rage quickly looked up from desperate efforts to extricate her limb from the steel trap. Her contorted face slowly melted into a mess of heartbreaking, confused worry as she locked gazes with her once-sinister foe.

 _‘No...she’s different now? Not a foe? It’s...her? My beloved Ryuko! Has she finally triumphed and won the fight over her own destiny? Oh Gods above, please let it be so!’ _The fiery rageglow fading from her eyes, Satsuki reached out cautiously with one quivering, blood-covered hand, desiring more than anything to be allowed the heavenly honor of caressing her precious, beautiful angel once again. Ryuko read the warm intentions behind this motion and ruefully shook her head, her own hand reaching out in longing for the same aching desire to love and be loved once more...the touch that she now feared she could never experience again.

“No, Satsuki. It’s me for now...b-but it won’t last for long. I can feel ‘em workin’ at... _rrrrr-_ cracking my mental control again! I can’t just break through this like I did Ragyo’s mind control...it’s me I’m fightin’ here! Look, I...I gotta go now. I need to deal with this shit in my _own_ way. This’ll end the way it began, I swear! Just promise me that… _*sniff*_ …you’ll always remember that I love you f-forever, all right? _Never forget that!_ You are an immensely beautiful person inside and out, and I’ll always remember you as the greatest love I’ve ever known! I always wished I was more like you...and I’m sorry that you never got the chance to beat my awesome ass at Guitar Hero in the end. I guess that kinda makes up for all those times you utterly dominated me at Tetris, r-right?”

Ryuko mounted her motorcycle, hitting the garage door switch as she kicked over the engine with a loud, braying roar. She rolled the bike forwards, nudging the front wheel towards the opening darkness. She wasn’t going to miss the bike’s shattered headlight, she could see just fine in the darkest night. She could see her final path to salvation, out there in the cold darkness; she only had to focus her steel will and hang on for just a little bit longer...

Revving the engine, Ryuko looked back for one last, sad glance at the best thing that ever happened to her. Her chin quivered as tears fell freely from tired, pale cheeks; the idea of never seeing her beloved, beautiful Satsy ever again was lancing her anguished heart with more pain than Kiryuin Ragyo’s claws ever could.

A hushed murmur managed to work its way to Satsuki’s overly sensitive ears as the motorcycle started to roll forward. “Why the hell does it only take a minute to say ‘hello’ and forever to say ‘goodbye’? That word _really_ sucks…there’s no ‘good’ in it at all! I swear, some things I’ll _never_ understand…”

Satsuki tugged repeatedly at the rebar shackle, feeling it start to give in to her immense strength. It was finally uprooted from the concrete with a nails-on-chalkboard screech, allowing her to quickly extract the metal from within the sparkling blue wound. The bar was tossed aside with a loud clang as she desperately hobbled forward to stop her wayward sister from fleeing the scene.

“Ryuko-chan, _no!_ Don’t leave! I beg of you, please let me help! We _will_ find a way, I promise you! _Please, please don’t leave me!_ **_I LOVE YOU!_** **_RYUKOOOO!!_** ”

It was too late. The main security gate dutifully opened, allowing Ryuko’s bike to rapidly accelerate out beyond their estate’s walls, billowing clouds of dust and exhaust fumes swirling in its wake. Satsuki watched helplessly as the bike’s bright red tail lights faded quickly into the darkness, cruelly spiriting away the last hopes of saving her precious love along with them.

 

 

-

 

 

_*beep-beep*_

“Damn it all, pick up the phone!”

_*beep-beep*_

“Come on, come _on!_ ”

 _*beep-click*_ “Uhmm… _*yawn*…_ mmmyello? Whozis, eh?”

“Inumuta! Listen up, it’s Satsuki! I urgently require your assistance, right away!”

“Lady Sat- _err_ , Satsuki?! Sorry, I’m up, I’m awake! I most respectfully apologize! I _wasn’t_ sleeping in the lab again, I promise!”

“I’d think not, since it’s nearly eleven at night! Look, are you home right now? I need to meet up with you, it’s quite urgent! ”

“I’m...er...well, I am still at the lab, actually. I was _just_ getting ready to go home, and I simply-“

“Fine, I’ll see you there! I’m closer to that side of the city anyways. I should arrive in approximately…nine minutes or so. Prepare some tea, we shall have great need of it! This is...it’s about Ryuko. It’s _bad._ ”

She couldn’t tell over the phone that all the color had just drained from his face, but she could sense it anyways. The cold urgency was painfully apparent to him...something was actually _scaring_ his erstwhile leader to the very core of her being.

“Of course! It shall be done, my La-“

_*click*_

_-_

 

 

The tea reached a perfectly cooled temperature just as Satsuki walked into his office. Inumuta sized up the situation as quickly as his mind could analyze the clues. His boss was obviously distraught, and it looked as though she had been engaging in a late night bout of…well…do-it-yourself home repairs? Her glossy black mane was a disheveled mess, plaster and wood dust covering her normally fashion-perfect hair. She did not move to take off her long trench coat when she came in, and even odder, she had sunglasses on this late at night…which also were strangely not removed as she gratefully accepted his offer of a hot, steaming cup of tea.

Hōka started to question exactly what the hell was going on, until Satsuki proffered one, ever-so-slightly trembling index finger in order to silence him. She allowed herself to enjoy one brief sip of the savory, aromatic drink before slowly putting the cup back down. Exhaling, Satsuki then turned to fill in her technology chief about the evening’s recent events.

 _‘Ryuko has run OFF, she’s not answering my phone calls, her phone is OFF, I cannot LOCATE her, she might be unstable now, I need to FIND her before it’s too LATE--NO, damn it all! Stop panicking! Calm down and focus! Get ahold of yourself, Kiryuin!’ _Satsuki forced herself to center her being, and somehow managed to project an orderly, matter-of-fact voice out to address his imminent queries.

“Look, Inumuta-san. I know this is a bit unorthodox. I’m worried that something bad might be happening with Ryuko. I can’t say for sure, and I don’t want to say for certain that the ‘worst-case scenario’ we once discussed is actually transpiring, but…”

“ _But_ you need more information if you are to make a truly informed decision, since she would balk in a most unsavory manner if our fears were proven to be unfounded. So...exactly how bad is it, Satsuki? _Should_ we be preparing for the worst?”

She paused for a moment to collect her scattered thoughts. Her shoulders drooped as the true weight of the situation exerted a most terrible gravity upon her psyche. “I...yes. This should be assumed. I need to locate her as soon as possible. We may not be able to save her from this, Hōka. In fact, from what I’ve seen tonight...we may not be able to save the _planet_ from this.”

At this, she slowly removed her sunglasses and looked directly at Hōka’s probing eyes. He adjusted his glasses, then jumped and nearly dropped them as he finally focused upon Satsuki’s newly fiber-starred pupils.

“ _Dear God_...Lady Satsuki! Your _eyes_ , they are…they’ve been…what does this all _mean?_ ”

“It means what you have most likely already surmised, given your current expression. Ryuko, under the sinister influence of her own life fibers, has taken the liberty of awakening _my_ dormant fibers, triggering a belated life fiber genesis in the process. It means that I have now become a human-fiber hybrid creature, just like her own self.”

For one split second, Satsuki finally understood what it must have been like, to actually be the being known as _‘Matoi Ryuko, Fiber-Laced Demon from Hell’_. Her senses were so acute now that she could easily sense his subtle posture stiffening, the dilating pupils and quickening pulse and respiration. He recovered quickly and in an impressively professional manner, as he was wont to do...but she knew the instinctual truth: in that moment, Inumuta Hōka was utterly terrified on a base level at the very idea of this most shocking revelation. Well, it was understandable...he _was_ only human, after all.

“Ah, I…see. I must admit, that is _most_ unexpected. I shall update my tactical analysis at once to include this new information. Are you...well, Lady Satsuki? Has this experience negatively impacted your ability to effectively function in the field? If so, I’m sure I can call upon the others to provide assistance.“

“Hōka, I understand your concerns. As of right now, I am fine. I now have access to a dizzying array of new senses and heightened skills that I have yet to fully catalogue or even test. I can hear, see, and even feel things that I find hard to believe are even detectable. In fact, in addition to healing a myriad assortment of lingering ailments and injuries, it has also spontaneously cured me of the cancer that was eating me alive.”

“Oh! You had _…cancer_? Dear God, Satsuki! I...I wasn’t aware of that fact!”

“Neither was I. Let us not fret over my condition at this point in time. Locating and rescuing my sister is of paramount concern to me! She is bravely struggling to wrest control back from these insidious puppet fibers of hers, but I fear that time is perilously short in this regard! How can we locate her, Hōka? She left the house in a rush on her bike about twenty-three minutes ago. Her cellphone is apparently off, I have already tried to track her with that. It’s not transmitting a signal right now. It may be off, or it may already be destroyed...”

Pushing his glasses up with utmost urgency, he nodded as he pulled up a mapping program on his laptop. The room filled with the sound of furious keystrokes as he rapidly searched for a critical database, comprised of important security codes and registration numbers. “I have an idea. I once took it upon myself to outfit all of your personal vehicles with anti-theft transponders, including her motorcycle! If she is still using it for travel, we can find her in this manner. Here, let me fire it up...”

The lab’s main screen blinked on with an enormous map of the surrounding area. A multitude of flashing green markers were blinking out one by one as he filtered out the various assets related to the tracking beacons. He suddenly gestured to the screen, index finger firmly pointing towards the western portion of the map.

“Bingo! There! I’m sure of it. According to the tracking sensor, it was moving at a rather rapid velocity until about seven minutes ago. Look there, Satsuki...that’s _your_ house!”

She gasped as her keen eyes verified the topographical map’s longitude and latitude. “She went _back?_ Why on Earth did Ryuko return home so soon after making her grand escape? Hōka, please pull up the house’s internal video and audio feeds. We simply must determine what she is planning!’

The strategy chief blinked nervously, whistling out a stream of pressurized air as he built up the courage to deny his leader right to her demanding face. “Lady Satsuki, I regret to inform you that I cannot do as you ask.”

Her head whirled around to stare in genuine shock at her normally obedient tech guru. “ _What?_ Why the hell not? Hōka, this is an  emergency! I’m _ordering_ you to pull up those damned feeds!”

He covered his grimacing mouth with one hand as he slammed down the other upon the desk. “I can’t! I made a solemn vow to you and Ryuko when you moved in...I purposely severed all incoming video connections to the house’s mainframe! It can only make _outgoing_ connection requests. This was part of the oath I swore: to uphold your request for absolute privacy! I’m certain I told you of this! I’m sorry, I simply can’t override it from here; I’d need to reconfigure the system from within the house!”

Satsuki closed her eyes tightly, seething at her own unbelievable misfortune. Of _course_ he had done so. It was at her own behest: she could recall the words now with perfect clarity. _‘Oh yes, I know you’d like to see her face. Well, privacy is paramount, Inumuta-san. Camera access is only to be granted in case of an emergency.’_  The Isshin Aerospace Company’s Chairman of the Board found herself silently cursing her damned Kiryuin luck, as well as her inability to anticipate the potential of such a predicament. ‘ _So much for being a tactical genius, you foolish woman!’_ She gripped the car’s key fob in her trench coat pocket, already making calculations as to both potential travel times and fervent prayers as she started to move towards the door.

Hōka suddenly stiffened up, snapping his fingers loudly as he vigorously shook one finger towards the ceiling. “Oh! Oh, wait...hold on! Satsuki, I believe that I may have just outsmarted myself! Just give me a moment to see if...hmm, if I can just tap into...okay, here’s _that_ connection...now turn these over to this section, engage long-distance zooms and apply these exact noise filters and add in some light sensitivity modulation to...ah, yes! There! I only disconnected the house’s _internal_ connections...I still have full access to all of your estate’s  external feeds! Here now, I’ve just commandeered all the available PTZ cameras to focus upon every window and door in the entire building. If we can catch a glimpse of her movements inside the house, maybe we can discern her motives!”

“Yes, but we can’t very well hear anything! We might catch a flash of her head as it crosses a camera’s view, but this alone isn’t going to provide enough information to assess the situation! Can you possibly access the main system’s internal microphones?”

“Ah, no...for the same reason as the video feeds. However, I think I have a theory about that as well that just might come to fruition. Here, let me switch this over to piggyback onto this channel, then we can try to mix out the horrible-“

The horrible, tinny screech of amplified feedback filled the room. Satsuki slapped palms over her ears, the sound assaulting her newly-sensitive hearing to the point of debilitating nausea. Hōka furiously worked to adjust the audio stream, applying various filters and noise reduction algorithms on the fly. The final result was laden with popping static and filled with harsh, tinny compression, as though the sounds were somehow emanating from inside a large water tank...but sounds could now be heard from within the house.

“How--? What methods did you employ to achieve that feed?” Hōka tapped at the screen’s running programs as process indicators worked to weave a recognizable pattern from the collected aural chaos. “I pushed the external microphones sensitivity to their absolute maximum limits, and then pointed them at the windows. I’m picking up the window’s glass vibrations via a combination of the built-in anti-theft sensors and the mike feeds. This is then processed by a specialized audio filter that I whipped up one time during my old spy tech days for the purpose of…uh, illicit eavesdropping. I _may_ have watched too many spy thriller movies as a child? The results are serviceable enough for this sort of ‘espionage’, I believe?”

Hōka moved to turn up the resulting audio mix, so Satsuki closed her eyes and focused as she concentrated her fine senses upon deciphering the stream of desperate verbal deliberation that now filled the room.

“...all right...fine! _*crash*_ No fuckin’ Scissor Sword! Dammit, she musta took it with her! Of all the shitty luck! _Shut the fuck UP!_ _*SMASH*_ Aw shit, her friggin’ Bakuzan Gako’s missing, too! _*bang*_ Fuck ‘m I gonna do, how’m I gonna pull this off without a capable- _NO!_ I will NOT! Fuck off! I _am_ in charge here, so suck it! You _rrr-_ ruined my entire life! I may as well just curl up and DIE if I can’t be with her! _*boom*_ Y-you destroy my chance at true happiness? _I’ll fuckin’ annihilate yours!_ _*CRASH*_ You shitty alien threads just FUCKED with the wrong girl, I promise you that! _*BAM*_ I gotta find a sure-fire way to...to...oh, shit. That’s  it! A _sure-fire_ way is right around the corner! Won’t _he_ be happy to assist in this, that fuckin’ paranoid-ass thug! Fuck it, whatever...I gotta hurry _-*hurrkchhh--uuurgh-oh fffucck meee*_ NNNnNNNnghhh _STOP IT RIGHT NOW! Ya can’t s-stop me!_ Your plans are _doomed,_ ya _hear_ me _,_ ya fuckin’ Silly String parasite _bastards? The end is near! *crash!*_ Gotta find that dickhead before it’s too late—“ _*SLAM*_

Satsuki’s eyes flashed open. “It sounded like Ryuko was searching for—ah? She’s outside now, running away from the house! Hōka, can you track her movements?” He scrambled to quickly reassign the estate’s perimeter cameras, eyeing the digital map as he did. Exhaling in frustration, he quietly cursed under his breath at the agonizingly slow turning speed of the camera mounts.

“She’s not on her bike…it hasn’t budged, see? She’s on foot, I presume? She must be moving too fast for the cameras to track! Which direction did she go, do you have any ideas?”

“From what I could hear, she was on gravel immediately after slamming the door…it was the front door that slammed, I recognized the unique sound of the hinges…I could hear the Japanese holly bushes being disturbed as she exited past them…hmm, those are to the right of the door, meaning she is moving towards the…auxiliary side gate! Hmm, what is in that specific direction? What could be so important over by that way, the only thing even remotely near that gate is…the main guard shack!”

Satsuki’s eyes darted to the wall clock: it was half past eleven. Chief of Security Kinagase Tsumugu was on duty until midnight…he was the only one scheduled to be in that security booth so late in the evening. According to his professional opinion, most illicit attempts to infiltrate an estate such as this would most likely be after dusk, so he purposely placed himself on the guard roster for the second shift. Satsuki also knew that Ryuko was well aware of this fact, since he had gleefully reported every sordid instance of the young Matoi’s pathetic attempts at bumming a cigarette from him straight to the Kiryuin mistress of the house.

“She must be looking for Kinagase…but why? If he discovers that she’s in danger of being taken over by her life fibers, she’ll be-oh…oh, _no!_ This is _bad!_ I have to get there, right away! Inumuta! Continue to observe the cameras and audio feed…message me if you catch _any_ glimpse of Ryuko! I need to go there right away and find her before something truly awful happens!”

“Affirmative! Do you want me to contact the others for assistance?”

“Not at this point, no. I must deal with her alone…I believe that she might try to incapacitate or even kill anyone else that gets in her way! I am the only person who currently stands a chance of surviving close-quarters combat with her, should it come down to that. Keep in contact with me, I’ll be relying upon my earpiece for further communications.”

Hōka bowed low, acknowledging her orders as she opened her coat to retrieve her wireless earpiece. His eyes wandered over to catch a flash of the clothing under her coat as she did so: her shredded pants leg was observed to be saturated with large, dark patches of blood, dried fragments of battle-related rubble sticking haphazardly to the sticky, gory mess.

“My goodness! Satsuki, are you injured?” he exclaimed, suddenly worried about her mysteriously concealed physical status. She glanced down and grimaced, silently admonishing herself for allowing clues about her recent experience to be discovered.

“No, not...anymore. I _had_ been, there was a brief physical confrontation at the house, before she fled the area. Do not worry about it, it wasn’t anything for you to be concerned over. We can worry about contacting the contractors later.”

Inumuta’s eyebrows flew up at this comment. He motioned to ask more about the details of her well-being when she quickly stuck her palm up in the air, a firm, silent signal that he was to immediately cease all further inquiries into her activities, no matter the seriousness involved.

“Try to contact Tsumugu. Make it crystal clear that he is _not_ to lay a single finger on my sister, no matter the circumstances! But do not go into any details we have discussed about her condition. I fear he’ll take matters into his own vengeful hands if you do so. Understood?”

Hōka nodded, setting up his communications center as he prepared to scour the area for their intended quarry. Wireless earpiece now firmly in place, Satsuki darted out the door. He called out “Good luck, Satsuki-sama!” as she bolted towards her Mercedes. She nodded, raising one hand up in grateful acknowledgement as she entered her vehicle.

The audio feed from Satsuki’s communicator sparked to life within his headset, her breath quickening slightly as she accelerated to perilous speeds on the highway onramp. “I’ll need all the luck I can muster, Hōka. Because if I cannot find a way to cure Ryuko of this terrible affliction, you’ll have to prepare yourself for the eventual task of neutralizing _me_ , as well. I’m going radio silent now, Inumuta. Contact me _only_ if it is critical. I’ll need to fully concentrate on not running into any innocents on the road.”

“V-very well, Satsuki. I’ll do my best.” His mind raced at the dire implications. Ryuko was now running amuck, apparently seeking a way to somehow end her existence due to her own life fibers? And now Satsuki was preparing _him_ to shoulder the responsibility of wiping her off the face of the Earth, should they fail to contain this sinister development…Hōka’s life had just descended into utter chaos, and it was taking all of his concentration just to execute his commander’s orders. As he busied himself by looking up Tsumugu’s contact information, he drily observed to himself that being of Kiryuin blood was a curse that no one should ever have to endure.

 

 

-

 

 

Satsuki was just settling herself into the Zen of high-velocity highway slaloms when her earpiece buzzed. She tapped the controls, impatiently awaiting Inumuta’s incoming explanation.

“Satsuki, I cannot get in touch with Kinagase! The fool keeps repeatedly refusing my incoming calls. I suspect that he might possibly be angry with my most recent remote overrides of the security system. I cannot say that this is the _first_ time he has shown immense stubbornness towards my actions in this regard, or under these circumstances. He seems to think that _he_ is in total charge of the security system, and sees my efforts as encroaching upon his ‘territory’. He’s being an obnoxious and petty alpha-male irritant, as usual!”

Her face darkened, with deep red anger casting a shadow upon her scowling features. _‘That pompous jackass! If his actions cause Ryuko to be harmed in any way, I’ll make his life a living hell!’_ Deftly dodging yet another vehicle to avoid becoming a high-speed debris field, Satsuki grunted in frustration as she answered her tech contact in a controlled, even voice.

“I’ll handle it. If he ignores _my_ call, it’s his career…or his _life._ I’ll decide later! Keep up the surveillance, Hōka. Alert me at once if you spot her. Satsuki out.” She quickly ended the call, then dialed Tsumugu’s number. It beep-beeped once, twice…then a click signaled the line being picked up. She barely had a chance to draw a breath before Tsumugu’s belligerent growl filled her ears.

“Tell your people to stop fucking with my security CAMERAS! This is MY job, not YOURS! Butt out and leave it to me, or _else!_ ” He then immediately hung up, instantaneously triggering a white phosphorus rage explosion within the livid Kiryuin woman.

“GRAAAHH! YOU FUCKING SIMPLETON! I WILL PERSONALLY TEAR OFF YOUR STUPID _HEAD_ AND VIOLATE YOUR ARROGANT _NECK!_ ” She struck the car’s radio, which proceeded to explode with a glaringly brilliant firework of sparks and plastic shrapnel. Stress cracks instantly coursed across the windshield from the sudden shock, the silvery ribbons reflecting prismatic glimmers in her eyes as she gnashed her teeth with unimaginable fury. Gripping the steering wheel with ashen knuckles, Satsuki dialed his number again…only for it to go directly to voicemail this time.

Casting an angry glance at the poor sedan’s mutilated dashboard, she managed to spy the current time in the somehow-still-intact LCD display. She hissed to herself a deadly mantra, ticking off the estimated minutes over and over until her arrival was imminent. “Sss _six_ bloody minutes until I commit cold-blooded _murder!_ Fff _five_ minutes until I commit premeditated _murder!_ Ffff _four_ minutes…that bloody fucking _idiot!_ Stubborn, obstinate, pig-headed thug! I’m going to enjoyyy thisssss…”

The communicator chirped in her ear. She tersely answered Hōka’s call, roughly popping her tight knuckles as she did. “Satsuki? Did you manage to contact Tsumugu yet? His phone is now completely off altogether! I do possess data that precisely indicates his punctual attitude about shift changes, and I…yes, there it is! I _just_ detected his outgoing security badge swipe. His shift just ended a few brief moments ago, so you should still be able to catch him as he leaves for the evening!”

“Oh, I’m _about_ to, believe me. Stand by, Hōka. I’ll get back to you in a minute.”

She caught a glimpse of Tsumugu’s rumbling motorcycle just then, heading the opposite way as she came charging down the long gravel driveway. Honking the horn, she abruptly cut Tsumugu off, the man being just barely fast enough to swerve away from the skidding Mercedes’ glossy black hood. Satsuki violently shoved the car into park as she bolted out to catch her quarry while he was still struggling to right the bike’s balance from the near-fatal incident.

“Who the fuck is— _Lady Kiryuin?!_ What is the meaning of this? Are you trying to prove just how poor of a driver you really are? I won’t stand for such reckless-“

“Where IS she, you thick-skulled _moron!_ Talk, before I knock your bloody _head_ off!”

“Where is _who_ , you damned lunatic? I haven’t seen anyone pass by here all night, including your precious sister! Now of course I can’t speak as to recently, since your tech monkey kept screwing with my damned remote feeds! You need to tell your little pet geek boy that I-”

“What? That’s impossible! Have you seen Ryuko or _not_ , Tsumugu?! She was just in this exact area! Think, you fool! It is of direst importance that I find her!”

Nonplussed, he took a drag from his cigarette before answering the uncharacteristically erratic and visibly seething Kiryuin now before him. After dealing with the likes of Kiryuin Ragyo and Harime Nui, it took a lot to rattle his battle-hardened nerves…’Little Miss Bitchface, Junior’ here wasn’t about to scare him off so easily.

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me, Kiryuin. Like I _said_ , I haven’t seen her pass by here recently. I saw something on the feeds earlier…Ryuko left the premises via the main gate just over an hour ago on her bike. What’s wrong, get into yet _another_ fight with her? Don’t blame _me_ if she finds you to be as much of a stick-up-the-ass bitch as _I_ do! Oh wait, or is it just because you look like a complete shit show right now? Seriously, you look as though you just-”

“You sanctimonious _asshole_. Answer my questions accurately and with great haste, or you’ll find more than your _career_ to be in jeopardy!”

“What? Are you actually threatening-“

“ _YES_ , YOU SHITHEEL! I _am_ threatening you! Wake the fuck _up!_ ”

Satsuki’s foot spun around to deliver an unbelievably powerful roundhouse kick to his motorcycle’s front wheel. The impact was so violent that it flipped him right off the vehicle, arcing him through the air before finally landing in an awkward pile upon the gravel driveway. Tsumugu scrambled to his feet, hand clutching for his trusty needle gun…which Satsuki snatched away from him with frightening speed.

Eyes bulging in disbelief, he could only watch helplessly as Satsuki grasped the gun, then swiftly snapped it over her knee with a brittle crunch. Glistening bits of gun parts and loose needles cascaded from steel fists as Lady Kiryuin Satsuki stood there, illuminated from behind by the brilliant halo cast by her sedan’s headlights as her darkened figure seethed in barely concealed anger. Her infuriated eyes almost seemed to be glowing in the darkness with an intense, blue aura. She spoke out, and her voice was like ground glass as she snarled orders for him to heed without further question.

“Listen up, little man. I have firm reason to believe that Ryuko was just now, _at this very moment,_ in the process of seeking you out in order to confront you for as-of-yet unknown reasons. Now I need you to think very, very carefully: do you currently carry _anything_ on your person that would be of great interest to a being such as herself? I distinctly heard her say that she wanted to obtain a ‘sure-fire’ way from you to…to accomplish _something,_ perhaps some task? So now I’m asking you this question, Kinagase Tsumugu: _what_ do you have on you that Ryuko could possibly need or want?”

Stunned into compliance, Tsumugu nervously rolled the filter of his crooked cigarette around his mouth, racking his nervous brain for answers. “Let me tell you two important pieces of information. There are only _two_ things I carry with me at all times, woman. One: well, it can’t be my cigarettes, I’ve told her to fuck off and get her own for a while now! Hmm, but _somehow_ I don’t think this is about her paltry nicotine fits, now is it? Two: my own special, personal…ah, _shit!_ I left my damned jacket in my locker! I was so pissed off at Inumuta’s remote tampering, I left it back in the security booth. It…it has my special anti-fiber ‘starch bullet’ pistol in it! That’s the  only other thing of note that I always carry upon my own person! Hell, in fact I _know_ that Matoi knows about it, too! Yeah, she actually asked me about it, not too long ago...if I still carried it with me ‘just in case’. I told her that I did, that it wasn’t anything personal, and that I just always wanted to have a fallback plan. She agreed with me that it was a good idea. In fact, she seemed somehow pleased with my answer, which surprised me a bit at the time? Yes…I specifically remember her saying to me ‘ _It’s good to be prepared for any eventuality. You never know when disaster might strike.’_ I mean, here I am with a weapon that could end her damned half-alien life in an instant, and she was just cool as a cucumber about it! Is _that_ what this is all about, Kiryuin? You owe me a damned explanation if there’s an urgent security issue unfolding here!“

Satsuki froze completely still. Mental tumblers clicked harshly into place, and a terrifying vision appeared to her as she weighed the value of this ominous discovery. “Oh, oh no… ** _no!_** My dear Ryuko-chan! Gods have mercy, _no_! _She means to end her own life with that bullet!_ Get in the car, quickly! We have to stop her at all costs!”

Bewildered, Tsumugu allowed himself to be corralled into the Mercedes by the deadly serious woman. Whatever drama was going on, the security chief needed to get to the bottom of it, post haste. He had a hunch that he wasn’t going to like the results of this security investigation one bit. What kind of a fight did they _have_ , anyways?

Driving the short distance back to the guard shack like a possessed rally car driver, Satsuki brought the car to a squealing stop in front of the auxiliary side gate. The headlights illuminated a grim scene as they both exited the vehicle. The booth’s door had been ripped right from their mangled hinges. Tsumugu called out cautiously to locate the third shift guard that relieved him but a few short minutes ago.

“Hey! Etsuji? Sound off, man! Come on, buddy…where _are_ you? Answer if you can hear me!” Satsuki cautiously sniffed the air, then solemnly pointed off to the left of the gate.

“Over there. He’s alive, just unconscious. She must have _just_ been here…I can still detect her unique scent.”

“Her _what?_ You had better be meaning her perfume or something, you crazy bird!”

“Shush! Now where is that locker? We need to determine if she found what she was looking for, or if we possibly scared her away just now!”

“It’s…ah, shit. Here…there’s my poor jacket. Man, she ripped right through the damned locker door to get it! But why didn’t the alarms sound? There should be a damned Christmas tree of alarm lights going off in here right now? Let me see the console logs…ah well, I’ll be damned. Your sister purposefully disabled _all_ the local alarms with her own security code! Kiryuin, she _planned_ all of this. I’m warning you, my buddy better not be hurt by all this drama that Ryuko has been kicking up around here!”

“She must have been here to attack you and try to take the gun for herself. It was sheer luck that you left it behind. She most likely wanted to goad you into shooting her yourself. She knew you would do it, too. But your friend here…he’d have _no_ way of knowing about that bullet’s special properties, nor would he be so quick take her life in such a manner. No, it takes a _hard_ man to actually kill a person, doesn’t it, Tsumugu? You’ve made no efforts to hide your opinions about _that_ , now have you?”

He was preparing a pithy, sarcastic response in his defense when Satsuki suddenly raised her finger to her earpiece, shushing him to be silent as she did. “Go ahead, Inumuta. Yes, she did. She found _what?_ How did she find the bike’s transponder? Oh, hell. Have you another method at your disposal? You do? Can you...do such a thing? Tap into the prefecture’s public camera grids…yes, do _whatever_ you have to do! I’ll deal with any repercussions later. Let me know immediately if your dragnet picks her location up! Yes, I will. Thank you, Hōka. This means _so_ much to me, I cannot possibly tell you...oh! Well, that…that’s _good_ to hear. No, I’m glad you said it. Everyone cares for her once they truly get to know her…she _is_ a most precious jewel, under that rough exterior of hers. Yes, thank you, my friend. Satsuki out.”

She stood there quietly, trying desperately to keep her iron composure in the face of the most nightmarish reality she could possibly imagine: her beloved Ryuko was out there somewhere, seeking for a way to end her own life…and she had just managed to obtain a ‘sure-fire’ way of doing so. How on Earth could she possibly be saved now?

Unsure of what to do next, Tsumugu nervously cleared his throat, then murmured a declaration towards the deeply worried woman. “Lady Kiryuin, just so you are aware, I’d never even think of actually killing Matoi, unless she somehow represented a clear and present danger to…to the safety of… _wait._ Hold on just a minute! Kiryuin, is there something _sinister_ going on here that you need to admit to me?”

Glittering tears now streaming down her mask of anguished frustration, Satsuki nodded slowly as she turned to face her security chief. “Yes. I need you to _stay out of my way, or else_. You’re a loose variable, and I can’t afford to have any of those floating around at such a critical point in time. Not until I am able to find a way to properly contain my dear, sweet Ryuko-chan. You see, she’s having a bit of a problem with her life fibers right now. They’re actively trying to seize control of her mind right now, and I need to find a way to reverse that condition before something truly regrettable occurs.”

Tsumugu’s eyes bulged out, his pulse painfully quickening as his posture stiffened up. He could scarcely believe that this sordid admission was now pouring forth from the uncharacteristically earnest Kiryuin woman. “ _What?_ Is this  really happening? But that would be a _nightmare_ scenario! Kiryuin, she could potentially infect everyone around...her… _oh my God, your_ _eyes_ \--“

He never saw the punch. Her surprise ‘ _Unpredictable Factor Removal Strike_ ’ (予測不可能な因子除去ストライキ) happened with such ferocious swiftness that he wouldn’t even remember the lights being turned out until the next day. Satsuki slowly withdrew her adamantine fist, quietly pleased at the relative ease of eliminating this potential threat to her own optimistic rescue plans. The trigeminal nerve was a particularly effective ‘off-switch’ for unruly humans, she dutifully recalled from her early days of rigorous hand-to-hand Kyusho Jitsu instruction.

Satsuki regarded his crumpled body with clinical indifference. She briefly sniffed in Tsumugu’s direction, then stared intently at his drooling face for a moment. She could sense that he would be just fine, although she didn’t envy the grating concussion he would most likely have, come morning. Still, he was alive, which was a far more generous fate than the one he would have planned for her darling Ryuko.

“I won’t allow you or anyone else to end her life. If it should come to that, the weight of that decision is mine _alone_ to bear. But I refuse to give up on her! She is far stronger than even _she_ knows. I just have to find a way to prove it to her…before it’s too late.”

 

 

-

 

 

Racing down the highway within her gleaming, black bullet of precision German engineering, Kiryuin Satsuki brains were also racing for ideas as she desperately searched for a way to capture her misguided sister. In order to do that, however, Ryuko had to be located first. With the bike’s antitheft transmitter being unexpectedly disabled ( _how the hell did she even find that device, anyway?_), Satsuki had no real way of pinpointing her location. Hopefully Hōka could snag a glimpse of Ryuko’s motorcycle on the public camera feeds before it was too late….but perhaps a keen deduction exercise might narrow her options down a bit? ‘ _Think like your opponent, Kiryuin...assess, analyze, and then counter!’_

“Damn it all! _Think_! Where could Ryuko possibly go? Mako’s? No, she’d never endanger her life. _‘This’ll end the way it began, I swear!’_...that’s exactly what she said. What could that possibly mean? Honnōji Academy is long gone, the mansion wouldn’t even make sense…perhaps one of her old schools? No…from her perspective, everything must have gone sour at a particularly traumatic point in her life, but which one? She has so very many to choose from... _wait one second!_ When Father died...when she bonded with Senketsu...it _has_ to be!  That’s when and where all this drama _truly_ ‘began’ for her!”

She hastily reversed directions on the highway, then quickly floored the car back up to dizzying speeds, weaving in and out of the sparse late night traffic as she formulated a tactical engagement plan. Satsuki then called up her wireless earpiece’s controls: one flick of her thumb later, and Inumuta’s line was dialed.

“Inumuta, are you there? Have you traced any of her movements yet?”

Inumuta gleefully reported his recent success, triumphant pride competing with urgent concern within his steady, analytical tone.

“Yes! She had been spotted by the local police just a few minutes ago, so I manipulated their communications to prevent her from being hindered by their bumbling efforts. Ah, messing with the cops like that always reminds me of my illicit youth! _*ahem*_ Anyways, I was _just_ about to report my latest tactical findings to you. According to my own observations and the pattern analysis algorithms I’ve been employing, I believe she is currently still traveling on Shin Ome-Kaido Highway, Route 411, moving at a rapid rate of speed in a distinctly northwest direction, towards-“

“-her old home...or at least the burned-out shell that remains there to this very day. Yes! Thank you for confirming my suspicions!”

“Er, yes? That _was_ going to be my educated guess as well. Most perceptive of you, Lady Satsuki! Shall I dispatch backup to that location?”

“Not quite. I’ll need you to contact Mikisugi first. He once said that he had a plan, should this grim scenario ever manifest itself. I shall need you to immediately rendezvous with him in order to prepare his secret underground laboratory for Ryuko’s containment and subsequent treatment. Tell him I said that ‘ _The Crosshair Initiative_ ’ must be set into motion, post-haste! One way or the other, I _will_ be securing Ryuko for imminent arrival at that lab.”

“Secret lab-? Ah, hmm. Interesting…very well! It shall be done. Good luck, Satsuki-sama. My prayers are with you.”

“My thanks, Hōka. Tell Mikisugi to grant you full access clearance to the lab…you should be able to easily get there within fifteen minutes, it’s right outside the downtown area. Start preparing the lab, then have Mikisugi meet me at Ryuko’s old family residence within one hour with the ‘experimental equipment’ we discussed. He will know exactly what I mean. I should be at her old home in about twenty-five minutes or so. I’ll know one way or the other if my gambit will pay off very soon, once I get there.”

Hōka grunted his acknowledgment, then signed off. Satsuki glanced into the passenger seat of her vehicle. The Sword Scissor blade, Bakuzan Gako, and her work briefcase were all of the personal items she had the chance to grab in her hasty rush to leave the house. Other random accessories had been previously secured in the trunk…but what she had next to her in the car right now would dictate how she would approach this most delicate confrontation.

Popping the briefcase open, she took the time to blindly rifle through the case’s contents until she found what she was looking for. Slipping a small cylinder into her trench coat pocket, Satsuki then briefly examined her own knitted, creased brow in the rearview mirror as she turned her attention back to the speeding road.

“I’m no gambler at heart…but I’ll be _damned_ if I’m going to murder my own darling Ryuko with these blades. So I will gamble then, just this once. I’ll gamble and pray…for the stakes are too high to risk otherwise. I’m going to rescue you from yourself, Ryuko… _with_ your unwitting help! You can count on that, dear heart! You will be accepting my precious gift of hope, _whether you like it or not!_ ”

 

 

\- Five years later -

 

 

“What’s this…oh, a gift? For me, really? Okay, okay, gimme a minute here! Hmm, now what’s in here for me…hmm-hmm-hmm…lessee here, what did you do now, Silly Satsy… _*gasp*_ , oh no _way_ …Satsuki! It’s beautiful! Wow, will ya look at that...it’s so very pretty! Oi, what’s this called again? I’ve seen it around in places before, but never knew what to actually call it…”

“Ah. This is an art form called ‘kintsukuroi’. They use lacquer and gold to repair what was once broken, in this case a decorative bowl. Some might say that it is ‘ _the art of embracing damage’_ , although I might not go quite so far in describing it in that manner. Still, I read something not too long ago that just happened to resonate within my heart: ‘ _The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places._ ’ I just couldn’t help but to think of our lives together…and once I saw this particular piece in a local artist’s studio, well…”

“Aw, that is so cool. Look at all that detail…I really like how the white and the gold come together right here, it’s so elaborate! It was all busted up, but then someone went and made it all pretty again. Story of my life, right? You put me together again.”

“Mmm…perhaps, but not quite. You are insinuating that there was a time when you weren’t pretty. I would disagree with that theory.”

“Uh, there were plenty of ‘ugly’ times. Like when I overrode your fibers? Gawd, I still feel _so_ bad about that.”

“It’s okay. It was a turbulent time in your life. I don’t blame you for that.”

“Yeah...crazy times.”

“Story of our lives, dear. Well, anyways…happy anniversary, Ryuko.”

“Uh…happy whaaa-aat?”

“Well, today’s date happens to mark exactly seven years from that fateful day when you dared to brazenly challenge the ‘Steel Queen’ upon the hallowed steps of Honnōji Academy! Seven is an important number, you know. It symbolizes "togetherness". I simply wanted to acknowledge the occasion, and now I have done so.”

“Oh, okay. Um…I didn’t get you anything, though? I, uh…sorta wasn’t really aware that _today_ was-“

“Ryuko, tell me one simple thing. Are you truly happy?”

“Am I…? Um…yes. Yes, I _am_ happy.”

“That is all I needed to hear. You are happy. Thus, I am happy! I have need of nothing else!”

“Aw…all right. I’ll getcha back someday, though! Man, this bowl is so darned pretty. Thank you _so_ much, Satsuki-sama! Hmm…? Oi! I gotta question for ya, then. So you said some people call this kintsukuroi stuff ‘ _the art of embracing damage’_ , right? So now I’m wonderin’ what ‘ _the art of causing damage_’ would be called, eh? I’ll bet someone broke this bowl on purpose, just to spiff the cracks up all pretty and shiny afterwards? If that’s true, then even I could be an artist! Ha-ha! I can bust just about anything!”

“Oh, well then you’ll be interested to know that there _is_ actually a phrase for that… _’the art of destruction_ ’? It’s known as ‘ryukomatoi’.”

“…har, har. You _kill_ me, Sats.”

“Ah. Once upon a time, dear heart…I almost did.”

 

 

\- Present day -

 

 

The Mercedes rolled silently into the former Matoi Estate’s weed-encrusted, overgrown driveway. Headlights were extinguished for the last kilometer or so, although Satsuki didn’t really think that would gain her much of a tactical advantage. She had only been at this location a scant few times herself, whereas Ryuko probably knew the place like the back of her fist. That, plus she was tracking an entity that had far more experience with her enhanced abilities; as a newly minted fiber hybrid, Satsuki was still adjusting to the bewildering array of input from her own set of overwhelmingly hyper-tuned senses.

They had their uses, however: Satsuki could smell the faint hydrocarbon composition of gasoline engine exhaust and visually sense the residual heat trail from a motorcycle that had only just recently entered the property. Hmm…three guesses weren’t going to be required to narrow down this list of suspects, now were they? She didn’t see the bike itself, but she could clearly hear the far off tick-tick-ticking of its cooling engine, secreted somewhere behind the building itself. Still, that was over a hundred yards away. Had she the time to think about it, Satsuki would have been duly impressed by this marvelous acuity.

She brought the car to a stop once she was within sight of the building’s remaining frame. Coal black timbers and charred stone cross frames created the chilling illusion of an alien skeleton, its haunted framework seeming to reach up towards the sky in a failed effort to appease long-dead gods.

Satsuki eyed the two specialized combat blades in the passenger seat as she prepared to get out of the vehicle. She brushed fingertips over the Scissor Blade’s cold, glossy surface, admired the onyx perfection of her own Bakuzan Gako…then resolutely shook her head as she got out of the car.

‘ _No. I will not seek to use these against her. This is a rescue mission, not a seek-and-destroy operation! Only death would surely result from the use of these anti-fiber tools in conjunction with one another. I will need to utilize other methods in order to bring her in_. _I will take her alive. I simply must!’_

Satsuki quietly approached the burnt-out shell on foot, reaching out with every sense she could possibly employ. Visually, there was nothing of note to detect; other than gently waving grasses and passing clouds, nothing really stood out to draw her attention. She delicately drew in air through her nose, and a chaotic bouquet flooded her with clashing scents…various types of flower and tree pollen, acrid charcoal, motorcycle exhaust and oil…but the unmistakable scent of fresh blood was blessedly missing from this mix. There _were_ traces of old blood, most likely left over from their earlier confrontation. That was to be expected, of course.

That didn’t really prove anything, though. The wind was moving somewhat diagonally to her current position, and Satsuki observed that a better catch pool of scents could potentially be found somewhere…hmm, southwest of the house. It would take precious time to move into that tactical position, though. Ryuko just _had_ to be where the memories dwelled…somewhere, deep inside those dark ruins.

Satsuki’s fiber-enhanced hearing…now _this_ is what turned out to be the most valuable asset on this chilly evening. The tapestry of localized sound was closely examined by the shrewd Kiryuin tactician. She closed her eyes, then sought to separate out the rustling of grass blades, leaves and branches, the occasional insect skitter, the dry tick of cooling engine blocks, the creak of old timbers, the slight scuff of a rubber sneaker against sandy debris, a quiet, muffled gasp, the quickening pulse of a panicking heart…ah, _there_.

Zeroing in on her target’s position, Satsuki calmly approached the house’s main alcove. She made no effort to be stealthy about it, since it was just as likely that Ryuko could now hear her own beating heart as well. The question in her mind now was if Ryuko would _listen_ to her heart, too.

Entering through the main hall’s empty, door-less frame, she then sniffed at the stale air, pushing past the harsh charcoal and mold scents to detect…fresh sweat and old blood…from somewhere up above her. _*sniff*_ Leather. Denim. Cotton. Rubber. Strawberry hair conditioner. She listened, and could hear that the heart was beating faster now, and she could just barely make out the nervous swallowing of saliva. Murmuring in a hushed tone, Satsuki quietly let slip an impassioned plea from her pursed lips.

“Matoi Ryuko. Please…come out and talk to me, dear heart. I know you can hear me, hiding up there in the dark.”

Time stood still for one brief, solitary moment. Satsuki reached out with keen senses and steadfast hope, searching for a single voice, that most desired connection. Her breath was laboriously held, then quietly released as a slow, rushing sigh was finally surrendered from her beloved quarry.

“ _*sigh*_ …aw, damn it.”

Glowing crimson eyes suddenly appeared from across her current position, up around where the second floor once stood. Satsuki felt herself being intensely observed as she slowly opened her own trench coat to reveal that she had in fact arrived at the house unarmed. Hands stuffed deep into her jacket’s pockets, Ryuko looked down upon her sister with a sad, haunted expression as she slowly stepped out into the pale moonlight.

“How the _fuck_ did you manage to find me so fast? I killed that damned tracking device thing…”

“Let’s just say that I know you all too well, Ryuko-chan. Please, come down from there so we can talk. I have found a potential way to deal with-”

“Damn it, _no!_ I simply cannot take that chance! This is…this _is_ the worst-case scenario, Satsuki! Ain’t no time fer gamblin’, and I _know_ Kiryuin Satsuki ain’t no gambler, either! Stakes are way too damned high for that now!”

“You’d be surprised, my love. So, what exactly do you intend to accomplish here, Ryuko? This forlorn place now only reeks of charred dreams and death.”

“Oh, like you somehow can’t tell by now? I _know_ you know why I came here, I ain’t that dumb! Look…if I die, then the whole world is saved! My particular kind of life fibers, they _need_ a mate in order to actually breed…and you’re the only other being that could possibly make that happen! I can’t possibly bear the idea of killing _you_ , and I’m pretty damned sure you’re more than strong enough to handle this…horrible _shit_ that I somehow managed to inflict upon you! I mean…look at you, you’re _made_ of self-control! And me? I’m the picture they use for ‘impulsiveness’ in the fuckin’ dictionary! I can’t be trusted, not with these… _fucking_ things chiseling away at my dammed willpower! I won’t let them _win_ , Satsuki! Listen…I’m sorry for a lot of the things I’ve done in my life…b-but by far I am sorriest for what I did to you. You were _so_ right about me, what you said earlier. I’m worse than Ragyo…and I deserve far worse, too. What I did, it was just… _unforgiveable,_ Satsuki-sama! I…I raped your _humanity_. Even she didn’t go _that_ far!”

Ryuko quickly wiped away the tears that were now pouring freely down her tired, gaunt cheeks. She shakily motioned towards the base of a still-standing column, off to Satsuki’s right. Low down upon the column was a gaping hole in the wall; an ominous gash that marked where her father’s body was once fatally pinned by the fiber weapon of his own creation.

“So, the reason I came _here_ is...I…I came here to say goodbye to Daddy, okay? I wanted him to see that I was a _good_ girl, in the end. I need him to see that his little girl finally did what was right for once!”

Satsuki followed the outstretched finger, focusing upon the column in question. She steadied herself as she made out the outline of an odd, ethereal energy pattern in that inky darkness…she blinked, and it was gone. A trick of the moonlight, of course. She was…fairly certain, anyways. Who knew what kinds of strange electromagnetic energy anomalies might now be sensed by her fiber-laced body?

“Ryuko, you cannot seek to blame yourself for actions that were obviously beyond your control! I don’t blame you for _any_ of this, I need you to understand that! I know for a fact you would never seek to cause me intentional harm! That was all due to the damned life fiber manipulation; controlling and enslaving your soul, forcing you to do the unthinkable! Besides, Father’s remains were moved to a proper temple…I _know_ that you know this! You and I, we made those burial arrangements _together!_ Don’t you remember that?”

Ryuko’s eyelids performed a long slow blink, then fluttered open to allow tired eyes to focus upon the area where he died. She could still make it out in her mind’s eye, the blunt stump of mansion wall and hulking black char that marked her most vivid memories. That gaping scar in the wall, where a Scissor Blade once viciously cleaved through body and bone, love and hope.

Ryuko cast her crimson eyes up to the nearly full moon. She could almost see the escaping assassin’s figure now…wait, _was_ there a moon out, that night? Funny how she could recall certain parts of it with stunning clarity, yet couldn’t recall if the moon was out at the time of her father’s demise. She almost caught herself asking Satsuki if she could remember that fact as she spirited herself away from the murder scene…then rubbed her pounding temple as she realized that it was actually _Harime Nui_ who escaped her wrath that day. _‘Shit. Getting harder to think again…damn it, not m-much time left now!’_

“I m-meant to say to his spirit. It still haunts the place where he died. I c’n sense it, ya know...the energy _is_ here, I just know it! I come here sometimes, to try to talk to it. Never works, but still…I’ve _tried!_ Why do ya think I never had this joint demolished, huh? Been here a lot recently, actually….looking for answers, searching fer a way out of this nightmare…but there ain’t a way out. I _need_ to die, for the sake of my loved ones and everyone else in this world. I deserve to be cast down, into that abyss for all eternity. S’ what I get fer bein’ such a dumbass and letting these evil fucking threads weave their way into my stupid soul! I’m fallin’ down there one more time, Sats...into the lab, into the pit…and you ain’t gettin’ in my way. I’m a damned planet-killer now, Satsuki...I can kill _planets!_ You get in my way now, you’re just aiding and abetting global annihilation! Don’t let your own personal feelings get in the way of what _has_ to be done! I’m begging you…please don’t let Dad’s death ultimately be in vain…o-or mine, fer that matter?”

Tears now trickling down her own face as well, Satsuki pleaded to her, arms wide open in loving concern. “Please, I beg of you…do _not_ go down into that hole! There’s nothing down there in the basement for you…for  us, anymore!”

Ryuko jumped down from the top of the alcove, kicking up a dark cloud of ashes and dust as she impacted upon the hallway’s charred, moldy carpeting. Eyes never leaving Satsuki’s tense form, she walked up to the edge of the lab’s former trapdoor entrance, now a gaping maw of doom and desolation.

“I know, that’s why I came here. Memories need to be put to rest...and so do I. I couldn’t live with myself if I end up causing all the pain and misery that these damned murder threads want to inflict upon humanity! I ain’t goin’ down with _that_ kind of shit on my conscience, Satsuki! Dad couldn’t live with that thought being on his conscience, and now I know _exactly_ how he felt.”

Satsuki spoke out, her voice low and husky as she dug up painful memories for a verbal autopsy. “I do know how you feel, Ryuko-san. I have been responsible for the deaths of many. My guilt has been a terrible burden to me. Yes, sacrifices had to be made, and I will always wonder if I could not have found better ways to handle those situations...but ending my life would have made it all to be in vain! I work for the common good now, as part of my penance...I am driven to do good things in an attempt to tip the scales back again! There _is_ a way back from this, I promise you...you just have to trust me!”

Ryuko snarled, angered by the weak emotional feint so callously employed by her sister. “You don’t know, Kiryuin! I _want_ to kill people, I have this overwhelming urge to be ultra-aggressive towards humans! My anger’s just a side effect of the stress of me tryin’ to hold it back, this terrible urge! Now I’m just _looking_ for an excuse to cut loose and hurt people, to slaughterrr...rr _rrR **RRR** Rrr_rr _really_ bleed them out to sate the _nnn_ -need, I just…need the blood! I don’t understand why, but only _monsters_ require blood like that!”

Satsuki shouted towards her sister’s trembling form, heated emotions flashing out like a solar flare. “You mean like Senketsu? Was _he_ a monster, Ryuko?”

Ryuko grinned ever so slightly, a momentary glimmer of fondness coursing over her grim countenance. “He was...different. Satsuki, he was a beautiful, blessed anomaly! His need for blood was a means to an end for him, it’s simply how he was _made_. He couldn’t help how he was fueled, and he _never_ harbored the desire to slaughter his hosts! But he’s dead now, and I hope I’ll be lucky enough to reunite with him again someday.”

The slightest motion forward, and Satsuki immediately regretted it as Ryuko jerkily motioned within her jacket’s inside pocket. An ominous bulge was protruding from inside, and it was quite obvious that whatever it was had been pointed inwards, towards her own chest. Satsuki froze on the spot, panic scratching at her heart’s walls as she slowly raised her palms outward in silent, begrudging acquiescence. Ryuko’s wildly aggressive grimace tensed, then slowly melted into a pool of watery regret as she teetered precariously on the edge of both the black underground pit and her own crumbling sanity.

“I hear it takes a stake to the heart, to put down such a blood-hungry ghoul…and I _have_ that stake now. I don’t want to hurt anyone! I need to ensure the future of everyone I love, I just _have to_! They’ve all suffered enough from this curse, everyone I know! We talked it over, worked it out...there’s no other way.”

“Talked it over with _who,_ Ryuko-chan _?_ Certainly not with me!”

“Well, with Sen-...aw, it doesn’t matter now, anyways. In a way, I’m actually kinda sorry you made it here. I mean, it’s really, really nice to see you again, you’re such a brilliantly beautiful sight for sore eyes right now! But...I didn’t want you to _see_ me like this, either. _You can’t stop me, nee-san_. So with that being said…I really, _really_ wish you’d look away for this part? Please, Satsuki-sama? Haven’t I already caused you enough nightmares, seeing the stuff I’ve gone and done? I don’t want you remembering the details of what’s going to happen next. Please…just look away.”

The gleaming starch bullet pistol was then finally pulled out from inside Ryuko’s jacket. Satsuki’s starry eyes flared wide open as she focused sharply upon the shiny weapon. The stubby barrel was now firmly nestled between Ryuko’s ample breasts, knowingly leveled slightly to the left…right towards the throbbing fiber engine that was so painfully hammering away, deep within her chest. Ryuko was obviously taking no chances…she knew precisely what she was doing. To fire such a specifically designed bullet directly into her own fibrous heart could only spell certain and instantaneous death.

Ryuko found herself suddenly thinking of her exhilarating jaunt up into low-Earth orbit, equipped with the unimaginable power of Senketsu Kisaragi as her faithful comrade-in-armor. She recalled it with chilling clarity; the exact moment when Kiryuin Ragyo defiantly chose to end her life right in front of her own daughter. At the time, she simply couldn’t fathom the idea that anyone would choose to just…end it all like that? It was an utterly alien concept to her, to _give up_ on living life itself…and it haunted her deepest, darkest thoughts for a long time afterwards.

Now, though…Matoi Ryuko felt as though she could indeed finally grasp such a concept. No longer alien in nature, it seemed somehow…natural. An end, borne not of self-aggrandizing, bitter resentment, but out of a keen desire to honor the preciousness of humanity’s fragile future.

Ryuko knew now that she had to willingly surrender life’s sweet embrace, in order to selflessly ensure that her loved ones could hold onto theirs. Just one little squeeze of the trigger, just _one_ …and Ryuko could honor the cherished terms of her unspoken covenant; a true hero’s solemn vow to protect all, regardless of personal cost. One single, miserable life, offered in trade for the guaranteed safety of _billions_? How could she _not?_

“I always hoped we’d be together forever, Satsuki-sama. Well, forever just got a lot shorter than I expected, I guess.”

“Ryuko! I will _not_ let you do this!”

Their eyes locked together once more: ever-widening panic met with calm, tranquil melancholy. Satsuki carefully gauged the distance between them to be about…ten meters or so, calculated the time she might have had…even with her fiber-enhanced speed, there was no way in hell to close the distance quickly enough; to wrest the gun from Ryuko’s iron grasp before that accursed starch bullet exploded her fiber heart into nullified shreds. If this catastrophe was to be prevented, it had to be with surgically precise tactics, not with the wishful speed of whispered prayers.

“No other choice here, Satsuki…no choice. Sorry it turned out this way. You’ve always said how strong I was…well, being strong sometimes means being able to let go. Dying won’t be the hardest thing I’ve ever done…that would be saying g-goodbye to _you_. I just wanna thank you from the bottom of my soul for loving me…at least someone actually did, even fully knowing what I  really am, deep inside. _You truly are the greatest thing that ever happened to me_. I love you, onee-sama. Goodbye.”

 _“_ Ryuko-chan! _Please… **NO!** ”_

She squeezed the trigger.

 

 

-

 

**Author's Note:**

> Content notes:
> 
> Sequel to ‘Criticality’.
> 
> I just had to take a stab at depicting Satsuki’s new fiber-enhanced eyes! Now I ask: why would she have any issues with these cute li’l suckers staring back at her in the mirror...? *shiver*  
> https://s7.postimg.org/bpgpgcn9n/Satsuki_star_eyes.jpg
> 
> Trigeminal nerve punch, a.k.a. a ‘one-punch knockout’: http://www.cpamma.com/the-anatomy-of-a-knockout-a-technical-explanation/


End file.
